Blowing a layup and getting outrebounded by 6 in the last minute of a Sweet Sixteen game is like getting kicked in the nuts and chased by a tiger.

Thanks A&M!

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I’ve had about 48 hours to digest the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee’s omission of Syracuse (and a few others) from this year’s NCAA tournament. I’m still full of disbelief and disappointment, but I think I’m finally ready to comment fully.

In years past when SU has failed to make the field of 64 (now 65), they have outright deserved it. In ‘96-’97 they started very slow, struggled through most of the season, and finished strong against unranked opponents at the end of the season. In the end 18-11 overall (9-9 in the Big East) wasn’t enough, and a first round NIT loss (at the Dome, no less) at the hands of Florida State proved that. In ‘01-’02 they started as one of the hottest teams in the country - at 16-2, they were ranked #8 in the AP in mid-January. Then Deshaun Williams thought it would be a good idea to knock up Shump’s girl and scratch his cornea in a bitch fight which led to a 4-8 finish in the regular season, a quick exit in the Big East tournament, and an NIT bid.

This year, however, I’m having a really difficult time picking out exactly what went wrong. 22-10 overall (10-6 in the Big East). I’d like to go over one major point that pundits (like Doug Gottlieb) have been hammering over and over since the selections were announced Sunday night.

Syracuse didn’t play anyone in their non-conference schedule.

Syracuse’s non-conference strength of schedule was 122. This was higher than many other at-large teams:

BYU- 126
Vandy -130
Texas AM -141
Louisville- 144
Indiana -149
Georgia Tech - 160
USC - 181
Texas - 183
Notre Dame -309
Washington St- 310

And before the tired “but they didn’t leave the state of New York until January!!” argument comes up, let’s remember that the NCAA’s OOC SOS rating takes that into account - these numbers are all supposed to be directly comparable to one another as a result.

It’s true that many of these teams have a bunch of good wins in conferences that are considered stronger than the Big East. However, let’s keep in mind that this week the AP poll had 5 Big East teams ranked in the top 20 - they didn’t have that many last year when the BE sent 8 teams to the tourney. In the interest of keeping this short, let’s look at Syracuse’s resume alongside that of Purdue and Arkansas - a couple of the “last teams in”:

Syracuse:
22-10 overall, 10-6 Big East, lost in quarterfinals of Big East tourney
Last 10 games: 7-3
RPI: 51 (as of Sunday morning)
SOS: 45
Key wins: Georgetown, @Marquette, Villanova
Key losses: Drexel, St. John’s

Purdue:
21-11 overall, 9-7 Big Ten, lost in 2nd round of Big Ten tourney
Last 10 games: 7-3
RPI: 44
SOS: 44
Key wins: Illinois, Michigan State, Indiana
Key losses: Iowa, Minnesota, Indiana State

Arkansas:
21-13, 7-9 SEC, lost in SEC title game to Florida
Last 10 games: 6-4
RPI: 35
SOS: 15
Key wins: 3 wins in SEC tourney, Alabama twice (then ranked), Vanderbilt twice
Key losses: Missouri, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, LSU, Mississippi State, Auburn

Sure, Arkansas had a tough schedule (largely because the SEC is a good basketball conference this year) but what did they do? Sure, they Alabama twice (right before they fell off the face of the Earth), Vandy, an overrated LSU team (whom they split with) and then took 3 wins in the SEC tournament (which included a second Vandy victory). That, and an early season victory over Southern Illinois is basically their entire resume. Now, I’m not saying they’re definitely not a tournament team, but most people seem to think they played their way into the NCAA Tourney because of the SEC Conference Tournament run. Apparently the committee really liked that 30 point victory over South Carolina. Don’t get me started on Purdue.

Anyway, most of this is just bullshit posturing on my part. Obviously as a fan, I’m extremely disappointed that Syracuse didn’t make the tournament. I guess in the end, the loss at home to Drexel, the come-from-ahead-lossses @Louisville and @St. Johns, and the extremely poor loss @UConn are what separated this team from being a top 20 4/5 seed to being completely out of the tourney. If you can’t win on the road you won’t end up in the tournament.

So, who’s got NIT tickets?

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